This invention relates to processing system function selection by means of a menu displayed by the processing system. More particularly, the invention concerns the presentation and selection of television set functions by means of a rotatable function menu that is displayed on the screen of the television set and rotated thereon to present functions for user selection.
Modernly, the television set (TV) combines a display system with a sophisticated on-board processor that supports manifold functionality made accessible to a user by provision of on-screen, remote-control programming. Typically, a graphical user interface driven by user commands entered by way of a remote control device provides a display that either temporarily replaces or is integrated with TV program video. The display presents either alphanumeric or icon representations of TV functions ("function representations"). Thus the graphical user interface permits the user to interactively view and select TV functions.
Frequently, the graphical user interface for a TV is menu-driven, providing the display and supporting the selection of TV functions by means of menus. Such menus usually are laid out in flat, two-dimensional panels that provide "depth" by means of a hierarchical or tree-based sequence of menu panels. Pull-down menus are often used. This mode of presentation and selection is limited, requiring the user to view and select functions by navigation through successions of two-dimensional matrices. Other modes of presentation and selection are even more primitive.
Manifestly, there is a need for greater flexibility in presenting and supporting the selection of functions in a TV or, more broadly, in any multi-functional processor system in which function display and selection are provided by means of a menudriven graphical user interface.